Women to Watch: Ballard does what she loves with passion, a mission

Marva Ballard is a clothing designer and owner of MJ Ballard Designs. She has created a line of knits that she hopes will offer opportunities for women to make money sewing and selling them.

The Commercial Appeal

Marva Ballard was designing clothes before many of her peers were even tying their shoes.

"Basically, I think I've been designing all of my life," said Ballard, founder and owner of MG Ballard Designs. "I started drawing clothes, for some reason, when I was 5 years old."

Her earliest designs appeared inside the books on her mother's shelves.

"My mother was an avid reader, and she had tons of hardback books back then," she said. "I would draw my drawings on the blank pages. Those were my early sketchpads."

Before long, pen and paper weren't enough. She began making clothes for her dolls. By 10, she had her first grown-up sewing machine — a gift from her grandparents.

"When I was 13, I was making evening gowns for women," Ballard said. "I had been sewing for a few years by then, and I was doing well enough that some of the women in our church would ask me to make gowns for them. That was when I started making money as a designer."

Eventually, Ballard moved from her home town of Akron, Ohio, to Indianapolis, where she opened a custom design salon. Armed with a fine arts education, she quickly made a name for herself in the fashion field, earning a nomination for the More Fashion Awards in New York City and designing costumes for the Indianapolis Colts cheerleaders.

Ballard first ventured South when offered a job with the fashion merchandising program at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Ala. While there, she earned bachelor's and master's degrees and discovered a love of teaching that has stayed with her throughout her career.

She came to Memphis in 2005, a few years after returning to full-time designing.

"I decided I needed to start over in a new place, because Tuskegee was small and it was closing in on me," Ballard said. "It was a toss-up between Atlanta and Memphis, and I chose Memphis."

Since settling in the city, Ballard has split her time between MG Ballard Designs and Women of Style, Spirit and Success Inc., a nonprofit organization she founded to help women gain career skills. Today, her biggest project is MG Ballard Design's newest line, called Comfort and Curves.

"In addition to running the nonprofit, we're launching the line, building a sales team and training a workforce here," she said. "I want to do the manufacturing here and provide opportunities for women to earn an income. It allows me to do what I love to do and work with my mission in life at the same time. I'm really feeling good about what I'm doing right now."

What's your absolute favorite thing about your day-to-day job?

The opportunity to be creative. I feel very blessed to have been able to spend most of my life doing work that I love.

You work in leather, in knitwear, in home textiles … all of it with a unique artistic bent. Tell me a bit about the collections and items you offer.

I've been working with leather since 1982, specializing in wearable art coats and jackets. Around 2003, I started making leather wall hangings and decorator pillows so that my art would have a wider customer base. It really takes a very confident woman to wear my art, but the home décor pieces are more for everyone. In 2011, we started working on this line of knitwear I call Comfort and Curves. This collection really represents my personal style, and they are the clothes I like to wear. ... Women can order pieces online or through private in-home showings and personal appointments by trained independent stylists. Additionally, we are making them right here in Memphis.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?

Developing an elevator speech that explains all that I do.

What's your proudest moment so far, career-wise?

I want to say it was when a friend of mine called to tell me that one of my coats was featured in an article in Ebony magazine. That was pretty cool. However, I can honestly say it is really right now because everything I have done, everything I love to do and everything I am passionate about have converged my new line of clothing. The way we are making it and marketing it will give income opportunities to other women, and that brings my mission and vocation in sync with each other. I have reached that sweet spot in my career.

What's your biggest wish or goal for the city of Memphis?

I wish that Memphis would develop a healthier sense of self-esteem. All cities have their good, their bad and their downright ugly. This city, through the messages it sends and receives via the media, seems to focus on the latter. That's sad, because there is so much good here. I want to help by providing jobs to help fashion a better future for some of the women and children in this community.

How do you spend your spare time?

What little I have, I spend time watching horror and superhero movies.

What book is currently on your bedside table?

My checkbook. I seem to spend a lot of time paying bills — I think I pay them in my sleep.

What's the best advice you've received, and who gave it to you?

The best advice I've ever received came from my grandmother, who used to tell us all the time: "You can live in hell one day if you know you are going to get out the next." It was a lesson on making sacrifices and working hard to get to where you want to be.

What would others be surprised to learn about you?

I dance with my hands while driving — it drives my kids crazy. When they're in the car with me, they are so scared someone in the next car will see me and they'll be embarrassed. However, one day we were on the expressway and we looked over to our left to see two men in a white van hand-dancing along with me. When I caught them, they smiled and gave me the thumbs-up. I felt vindicated.